EDUCATION 189 



Whatever renders a commodity more marketable and 

 more manageable adds to its value. The best chance of 

 obtaining a reasonable price for land is to remove the 

 fetters which restrain its transfer. From every point of 

 view a reform of the land laws in the direction we have 

 indicated would be a social and economical gain, but it is 

 quite possible that increased facilities of transfer may 

 encourage the consolidation as much as the diffusion of 

 property. 



If rents are permanently reduced, landlords must 

 become their own agents. If increased production affords 

 the remedy for agricultural collapse, scientific training is 

 required by the tenant farmer. If the soil is to be tilled 

 in small holdings, or by a peasant proprietary, preparation 

 must be made to educate them for the task. Thus, from 

 every point of view, education becomes an indispensable 

 condition in the future of agriculture. In England little 

 provision is made to supply the want. Our manufacturers 

 woke from their dreams of industrial supremacy to find 

 that technical schools on the Continent had in a few years 

 counterbalanced the advantages this country had gained 

 from an early start. It is not impossible that our agri- 

 culturists may, from the same cause, find themselves left 

 behind in the race. Continental Europe is rich in the 

 supply of teaching adapted to the wants of every class. 

 Even Ireland possesses sixty tax-supported farm schools. 

 In Great Britain the State subscribes a grant towards the 

 teaching of agriculture in the Science and Art Depart- 

 ment of Kensington' and contributes IbOl. a year to the 



' Kensington is a curious place for an agricultural department. 

 Within the last year the number of students has increased by 25 per 

 cent. In 1885 there were eight ; in 1886 there were twelve agricultural 

 pupils. The Australian Colonies have recently increased facilities for 

 agricultural education. In Victoria, for instance, a central college is to 



